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Published: January 18th 2010
I thought I was behind last time, but this time I am really behind on catching you up! Getting overwhelmed with the stuff I could tell you!! 😊 So, grab your chair.. this is a long one.
We were on our second night of camping in Abel Tasman. The sun doesn't set here until 9:30ish, but we were so worn out from the day, and the day before, that we decided to call it a night. We were all snuggled in our tent, just about asleep when we heard/felt a tapping on the tent. Naturally, we didn't know what was going on. We got really embarrassed because it wasn't even dark yet, and we were almost out cold. We struggled to unlock the tent, yes-we have a really cute and tiny lock for our tent, only to see a Department of Conservation worker. We tried to explain why we were already locked in, but I think we just made it worse and she thought we were freaks. She was going to several campsites making sure the right people were there. We proved we were in the right spot, and back to sleep we went.
Up and at em the
next morning. Alarm set to catch the sunrise. Sounds nice right? It was, but the mountain blocked the sun and we weren't able to see it rise over the water. ha, still can't get that we are on the other side of the world... always one step behind. It was pretty cold when we woke up and neither us of had the urge to get out of our tights and shirts we slept in. Solving all the problems, we simply slipped on our shorts over the tights, added shoes over our socks, and were ready to go. Simple as that. A quick brush of the teeth and wash of the face with untreated water, deflated our "beds", packed the tent, and back on the trail. It was kind of nice not having to worry if you left anything because if you did, it was already packed in the backpack.
Another beautiful day with beautiful views on a beautiful walk. We reached a location that was never mentioned to us.. a signpost with High Tide going one way and Low Tide headed the other. We had already been through the two main areas we were warned to watch the tides.
What was this? Should we risk it, take the low tide route, or head for the definite high tide route? We didn't have a coin, otherwise we would have flipped it. Risk it, we decided. Two Israeli girls came up and asked us which to do. We flat out told them we had no idea. We walked down, down, down to the edge of the water, all the while praying we wouldn't have to go back up, up, up. We get down and it doesn't look so good. I threw on my sweet aqua socks and hopped over some rocks/water to see if we could make it across. We didn't have far to go seeing that the orange circle marker was in sight. Within the five minutes I spent checking it out, the water had already risen a noticeable amount. We heard footsteps and who do we see but the two poor Israeli girls. (I don't know how we are always with Israelis?) We told them the bad news. We weren't going to be able to cross. They sat for a minute chatting with us as they had a snack. I don't even remember what it was, but I remember
I wanted it so bad. They packed up their bag, we apologized again, and they were off. They were catching a watertaxi to take them back to town. We dreaded going back up so much that we literally sat on a rock and watched the tide roll in. Slowly, but surely each rock became more submerged in the water. Little fish began to invade the freshly covered sand. Do you think that fish have a high tide home and a low tide home? We do. What would it be like to come back to your "other" home to see if it withstood the day. Before the tide could take our rock, we headed back up,up,up. We decided our knees are going to give out 10 years early.
Sidenote: After walking up, down, and around what felt like the same corner we took a little break. As people passed, it kind of hit me what a cool experience we were having. We truly are so blessed and I am so grateful. 😊
We came around another bend on our high tide route to find an amazing waterfall. Again, NZ and their maps. If they would've said hey, go this
way to see a great waterfall, we would've! But then, yes, I know, I know, we wouldn't have had the other experience, but it would be nice to know sometimes! 😊
A little further we came to a cool swing bride- at least thats what I think its called-see pic. It's the kind that shakes when you walk across it, complete with a sign that warns only 5 person maximum at one time. It was over a very still and clear stream with big boulders at the mouth. After going up a really steep incline we had to have a rest.. we sat right in the entrance to a beach in Apple Bay. We were disgusting. Walking, sleeping, walking, sleeping, and walking some more in pretty much the same clothes, when your day clothes = your night clothes and vice versa, it gets pretty sick. We're sitting, enjoying the break, as people pass us by with the "hi, how's your day? Oh, it's your 3rd day too?" - but see they didn't make the connection that we'd been in a tent and are still carrying that tent. They slept in huts with showers and food. We met 3 fellow
Americans (CA) and they talked our heads off with how "epic" "sick" and " hella good" NZ has been. Naturally, we nodded our heads and eventually rolled our eyes - brats aren't we? 😊
5 hours and 26 minutes later (yes, I timed it) we made it to the bottom. Back to civilization! (Jay- this is why I couldn't call you on your bday!) I felt like after such a huge trek we should have had a crowd cheering us on at the bottom, telling us how well we did, with balloons and hip hip hoorays, but to no avail. We cheered ourselves on.. 😊 We marched right back up to "The Barn", paid 3.50, and had a much needed and well deserved shower. I am so proud of us for doing it. a long trek, but worth every single step. I couldn't have done it without Eliza either. Be proud of us! 😊
We didn't want to "waste" a night staying in Marahau or Motueka again, even though this creeper girl tried her hardest to persuade us, so we packed up and started Karlene headed South. We made our way through the breathtaking (as always) road from
Marahau to Punakaiki. (missing a turnoff in the process) We were trying to rush and make it to the hostel before they closed. The weather was turning on us and we all of a sudden were in a little town called Reefton. Instead of making a quick cut over, we had to go down and back up. Now we were driving up the West Coast. Rain pouring down and the enraged Tasmas Sea crashing in on our left. It was as beautiful as it was scary. Made it to the hostel just fine, woke up super early and drove ove to the "pancake rocks" - the whole reason for driving down and then back up. We didn't want to miss them. Now, when we pictured "pancake rocks" they were huge rounded fluffy rocks (if rocks can be like that) - stacks upon stacks of them. Reality is, they are skinny layers of, well, rock. I get why they're called pancake rocks but yet again - the picure in my head didn't match the image before my eyes. However, there were tons of them. If you it at high tide the water crashes in so violently that it sprays up through
the "blowholes". It is hard to believe how these stacks of rock are still around. They looke more like stacks of crepes, or maybe like baklava (sp?). Scientists still don't know exactly how/why they were formed. We oohed and ahhed and were back to Karlene. Next stop, glaciers. Actual glaciers. On the way, we passed through a place called Barrytown, which made me think of brother #2 (Barrett for those of you who don't know😊) and wanted to take a picture of the sign for you but strangely it had "slut" spray painted over the Barry and I figured that might be inapporpriate. haha, love you brother!
Down the coast, along the water and against the mountains to the teeny town of Franz Josef Glacier, with its claim to fame being the Franz Josef glacier. (distinction b/w town and attraction being the upper and lower case 'Gg') All you have to do to see the glacier is drive up, walk a few feet, and bam, there it is. Usually, always actually, when I imagine glaciers they are in a body of water. This glacier however is nestled between the Southern Alps. There is a long scientific reason for the
glacier being here and the way it is but it has long since left my memory bank, but what I can tell you is that it basically is (or looks like) a huge river that has frozen in between the mountains. The pictures, of course, do not do it justice. We just stood there looking at it, freezing, and saying "OK, that's a glacier, we're right next to a glacier". Not too much further down the road is the, for some unknown reason, less popular, Fox glacier, in the just as teeny, town of - yep - Fox Glacier. Creative right? Deja vous because it looks exactly like the Franz Josef and I'm almost certain we repeated verbatim the same scene as before. Beauty, bewilderment, a good long stare, and we were gone.
Down the winding coast a littler more until we curved back inland along Haast Pass, which for the longest time I thought was called Hoss Pass. As I've mentioned before, simply driving from place to place blows your mind. Since it had rained the day before, waterfalls were pouring down the mountains. Around every bend there was a waterfall, just as pretty and strange as the
one before. Indescribable.
Eliza took to the wheel again! Both of us were nervous as hell, but is was great! 😊 From start to finish it took us 10 1/2 hours that day. It was great to break it up a little. From the coast through the mountains, past amazing lakes, down through the vineyards, and we were finally in Queenstown. Oh, the bustling little city of Queenstown. We checked into the hostel and what do you know, Noam comes walking up. We talked with him a few times and thought we'd meet again, but nothing was definite. Same hostel, even the same room! We were in the car for so long, I had to get out and do something. We each headed our separate ways and went for a quick jog. Probably the most relaxing and stress free jog ever... nothing to do, nowhere to be, no need to talk, just going at my own speed looking at the snowcapped mountains along the base of the lake. People were out everywhere, just enjoying life. It got me so excited to actually be in a town with civilization and such life all around. Eliza and I met back and
she was also ready to get out on the town. Noam told us we were "overactivated". haha and he was right. We hurried to get ready for the night.
Coincidentally, a guy I went to highschool with is now living in QT, with three of his friends. We went to meet them at the bar, Monty's, all the while trying to warn/tell Noam it was going to be a crazy time with them. 😊 As I order our drinks, the bartender gives me the strangest look before making them. I told Eliza how weird it was, then he comes back and askes if we are the girls meeting Michael and them. We laughed, said yes, he said he could tell by my accent. He is from Baton Rouge and know Michael and them aka "the kids". Over a month in NZ and we finally met up with them. (Mrs. Pam if you're reading this, I gave Ley a hug for you! 😊) So - Michael, mustache Nate, Lacey, Ley, Noam, Eliza, and I hit the town. What a night. Keep in mind this is really only our second night out, the first being when we arrived and were in
our clothes for 48 hours. It was past time to go out! So we made the most of it, actually too much of it because it was the same story for our whole time in QT. 😊 Rain, rain, rain, the next day but we were OK with that. We weren't going to go out that night, but remembered a friend from home has a bf thats band was playing. Last minute decision and there we were... out again. We met up with Morgan (from BR) and some of his friends but swore it'd be an early night. Of course, that didn't work.
We walked around the cute little ski town and decided to book a trip to Milford Sound. As we were walking around, that day and the few days before, we kept walking past 'Fergburger'. Whoa. The biggest burgers you have ever seen in your life. Everytime we walked past, we drooled. So, we caved. Fergburger was going to be dinner. 3 enormous burgers, one fry, and 3 beers later = miserable Noam, Eliza, and MK.. but what a great misery it was. We had to sit a minute before we could even leave the place. We
slowly made our way out and debated what to do. It was early, so one drink wouldn't hurt. Hours, upon hours later we found ourselves scrambling to get ready for Milford Sound. As usual, we envisioned what this day/trip would entail. It didn't come close to reality.
Milford Sound. Wow. We met the bus right on time, it was a miracle, climbed on and listened to our tour guide detail all the beauty around us. We passed The Remarkables, the everpopular ski resort in winter. (we both really like that name btw) Just the night before snow fell and capped all the mountain peaks even more so than before. So pretty. We were so tired from the night before, we both brought our pillows. The drive from QT to Milford is about 5 1/2 hours. Soon enough, I woke up and we were making a pit stop in Te Anua, the halfway point. We were so out of it.. hair and mascara from the night before everywhere.. one look in the mirror and we knew it was going to be rougher than we thought. frightening. It was also freezing cold. Ugh. We made a few scenic stops before reaching
Milford. We saw several kinds of birds at a wildlife reserve... basically, we got out, walked around this huge cage, saw the dumb things, and nearly froze to death in the rain. There are only 200 or so of them in the world though, so I guess that makes it cool, but now I can't even remember the name of them.
We were expecting a long bus ride, to get out, be amazed, and back for another long bus ride home. Of all the people telling us to go to Milford Sound, not a single one of them mentioned the drive. Absolutely amazing. Lakes, mountains, snow, etc. One stopping point was to Mirro Lakes, although it was raining a little you could still see the mirror image of all the plants around the water and the mountains in the distance. There was one point as we were where the road was lined with the prettiest tyedye deep purple to light lavender flowers, snow capped mountains, and a river beyond. Aslo, my favorite part, since it was raining - tons of waterfalls scattered themselves down the mountains. everywhere. All sizes - from small trickles that turned to mist as they
fell to huge raging ones crashing down. quite impressive. The closer we got to Milford, the more intense the mountains became. We stopped at another point to see a chasm. I still don't know what that means but it's where water comes gushing through the rocks so fast it has worn them down and created holes - the rocks were smooth and rounded. Again, it was cool, but by this point our shoes were completely soaked. We had no idea we would even be getting off the bus, let alone, need certain attire. Around and down the road hugging the mountainside, watching the rain fall. Huge packs of ice formed at the bottom of the mountains. Again, we had no idea it was going to be like this. I can only imagine what our faces must have looked like.. eyes wide open, jaws probably dropped and a mixture of amazement, bewilderment, and disbelief written all over our faces.
It was still raining and I was so thankful we chose not to drive. You know Mississippi people don't know what to do if there is any sign of ice nearby. 😊 We went through a long one way tunnel and
came out to mor rain, waterfalls, ice and amazing mountains. The "town" of Milford is nothing but a few buildings and a dock for ships. Milford Sound - honestly - there aren't any words to describe this place. So I'm not going to attempt. However, you should know that it is the most beautiful place I have ever been. If you ever come to NZ, it is an absolute MUST. Google it, if you care.. but that, nor any picture will ever do it justice. It's simply something you have to see with your own eyes. Milford Sound - write it down, remember it, go see it!
OK - well I realize I can't do it. I have to tell you a little bit about it, don't I? I should because it truly blew my mind as I stood there watching everything around me. We got off the coach aka bus and boarded a small/medium size tour boat. Who would've thought, but just as we boarded, the rain stopped. The most inexplainable place, simply because of it's natural beauty. Humans have yet to take over (minus boats on the water) this place. As it rained the whole way there
and as miserable as it was, what a treat. Not ten, not two hundred, but seriously thousands of waterfalls. thousands. See, this is precisely why I can't explain it. I can't even imagine thousands of waterfalls, and I've seen it. Thousands. We cruised passed mountains jutting out of the water and straight to the clouds. No sign of a beach, let alone a ledge. Mountains shooting straight up out of the water. I imagine them forming like I imagine Jack and the Beanstalk.. they just kept going up. Amazing. We cruised past a few fur seals and out towards the sea. Sure enough, here come 10 or so dolphins swimming with the boat. What an interesting creature. They looked like they were having as much fun as we were watching them. Since the mountains were so huge and straight out of the water, your whole sense of depth/distance was completely off. I took a pic and there is a spec of white, but when you zoom in you can see that it's actually a cruise boat like ours. It wasn't that far but the size of the mountains threw it off. Anyway... look this place up, and go. It won't
change your life, but it will boggle your mind. I've said all I can say. 😊
We took the same route back to Queenstown, however this time we were both awake to see the sites we missed on the way in... such as 2 huge lakes, farmlands, grassy hills, and the best rainbow I've ever seen. I would be shocked if there weren't lephrechauns at each end with a pot of gold or some skittles falling from above. What a day. We were super tired so we showered and eyes shut before even hitting the pillow. Great nights sleep, back on the road, goodbye to beautiful Queenstown.
We didn't have a destination so.. as usual.. we pinpointed a spot on the map and headed that direction. We stopped for some highly recommended fudge in a cute place called Arrowtown, complete with a New Orleans Hotel, yes, I took a pic. Destination decided and set off for Oamaru, home to yellow eyed and blue penguins. We came to a T in the road and as I "gave way" to turn the corner something caught the corner of my eye. A tall, curly headed, blonde guy with the rosiest cheeks
and brightest pearly whites you'd ever seen was perched on the side of the road. He held a cardboard sign that read the name of the next town, Omarama. Without a single hesitation, Karlene Jean swung off to the side of the road. Immediately I could feel Elizas fear filling the car. As I remember it, it went a little something like this:
(I pull over on the side)
E: Mary Kathryn, Mary Kathryn, what are you doing?
MK: We're getting that hitchhiker
E: WHAT - No, No - we don't have any room - he could kill us
MK: Did you see him? He's probably afraid of us!
E: Where is he going to sit? No, No- are you serious? Mary Kathryn!
MK: Eliza - it's ok, he's only going up the road (motioning to the backseat as he approaches the car)
guy gives us strange looks because KJ is packed.
MK: Hey, we can move this over (talking about our kitchen - he walks towards the trunk, I pop it, and all I see are his hands shoot up by his sides saying "huh?" - this guy and the look on Elizas face is making me laugh
so hard)
We moved some stuff around and down he sat.. diet coke under his feet, backpack on his lap, our "kitchen" surrounding him, and a big grin on his face. Anton, as in Antony. 19 years old from Germany. He'd been working in Oz aka Australia and took a break to travel a bit in NZ. We chit chatted a while, seeing as we don't have a radio and all.. 😊 The awkwardness was hilarious.. I could feel Elizas glare but couldn't look at her because I knew I'd die out laughing. We were all good. Eliza was slowly but surely on board with this guy, Anton.
Here's the deal... people , regular people (relatively regular) hitchhike all over NZ, but particularly on the South Island. So before you all go getting freaked out and telling me I'm a crazy who trusts too much, just remember that this is, in fact, "the norm" over here. Poor people travel too, look at me. I'm thankful I have a car, that's all. 😊 Besides.. E already picked up Dreadi, I figured it was my turn. 😊 He was only going to the next town, but once we were all "OK"
with each other, we went ahead and took him all the way with us. As I was driving they were both deep into the NZ travel books and quickly found some points along the way for us to check out.
We crawled through the tiny town of Duntroon, which can be (and was) captured in a single frame, to the Elephant Rocks. They are these weird rocks that somewhat resemble a herd of elephants moving over their grassy plane. A pretty cool place, which also happens to be where they filmed scenes for The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (one of my favs). Next we stopped at some ancient Moari paintings, but we were confused as to if we really saw them.. we saw some kind of something that looked like a 2 year old drew, so we don't really know. On to Oamaru... I was under the impression that it was an odd town and that most people stay there for a night or two strictly for the penguins, however, I found it to be a nice little town. It's a really old tow with a pretty Historic District. We dropped Anton off where he was to
be picked up by the person he was staying with, but we were to meet back up and visit the penguins together. The weather was fine all day, but now that we had something to do/see.. what do you get, but rain.
Yellow eyed colony first.. down the walkway overlooking Bushy Beach. We stood shivering in the rain and finally one little guy waddled out from the water and onto the beach. I'm not gonna lie, it was cute, but it was far away. Eliza and I stood behind Anton to shield ourselves from the rain. Sooner rather than later, another little guy popped up on the beach. We were able to stand in a little hut, but it didn't help the cold. We eventually gave each other the eye and were out of there. We later found out that you sometimes don't see any and if you do, the most you'd see is 8 -10. So we thought seeing 2 was pretty good. The blue penguins don't come out until dusk, but we went to check out the scene anyway. It's a huge production. This company literally parades the penguins through these grandstands and into their manmade "homes".
It's bizarre. They charge you 20 bucks for "the show". It's harmless for the penguins bc they make their own way in, and I assume have become used to the hundreds of flashes going off each second. We toured the place, but didn't stay for the show. We took Anton back and would try again later near dusk. So here we sit, waiting on hundreds of penguins to flock towards the beach... and we sat... and we waited... and we watched... and we sat... you see where this is going? We saw heaps (my fav new word) of "penguin looking" things and I'm almost positive they were, but we couldn't actually tell. Supposedly, hundreds come to where we were, but ya know.. as we've been going along.. sometimes we realize we're just one step behind. 😊 Mark this one down as another entry into NZ for Dummies.
New day and down further South for a quick trip to the Moeraki Boulders. These boulders look as though they've fallen from the sky.. big circular boulders.. some are broken and you can see a honeycomb pattern inside. Quick pics and back to the road. The road, State Highway 1, to Christchurch
was beautiful and a clear day! yay! Driving across the Canterbury Plains with visibility to the Southern Alps. It's a straight road for the most part, which was odd, sometimes viewing the ocean on one side and the snow capped mountains on the other. Even while you're looking at it, you can't believe you're looking at it.. ya know? awesome.
Ok.. well I didn't get as far as I'd hoped.. but at least I put a dent in it. 😊 Hopefully will catch you fully up to speed within the week.
Hope you have a happy day!!
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Nina ( not sister )
non-member comment
I love your blog
you could get this published - honestly better than any New Zealand Travel guide Ive seen! You make me want to travel in my own country more, sounds like " heaps " of fun - be careful. :-) N